By Graham Glover –
I swear it’s never going to end. It was supposed to be over last November 8th, but it’s still going. Almost 6 months after Americans went to the polls, we are still immersed in the 2016 campaign. For some reason, we just can’t let it go. I really think it’s never going to end.
But why? Why can’t Americans accept the fact that Donald Trump is our president, that the Republicans control both chambers of Congress, and that Neil Gorsuch is the newest member of the Supreme Court?
I’m not saying you should like the outcome (I certainly have my reservations). Nor am I suggesting that last year’s election is a permanent referendum on how American’s want to govern (it clearly isn’t). But elections are supposed to come to an end. Elections have consequences and the victors are supposed to be able to do their job, or at least have the opportunity to do so
So please, please stop campaigning. Stop litigating the race(s) that American voters decided last fall. Campaign 2016 is over and Americans should start acting like it.
This goes for both parties involved.
Democrats, you need to come to terms with the fact that you lost. You ran a horrible campaign and your presidential candidate was seriously flawed. You have become ideological extremists and have abandoned your greatest asset, your bread and butter voter – the working class American that cares little for your ideological platitudes. You may not like Trump (a lot of people don’t). He was an equally flawed (perhaps more) candidate. But he is our president. The American people have spoken and he won the election. So please get over yourselves. Regroup if you want to (you really should), learn from your mistakes (even if you don’t appear to be doing so) and come back with a vengeance in 2018 and 2020. But for now, you’ve got realize that you did not win. There was no grand conspiracy. You just lost. And consequently, you do not control the White House, Congress, or the Supreme Court. And that isn’t going to change for at least the next 2 years.
Republicans, you won big. You ran an interesting campaign that may have permanently altered how presidential campaigns are run in the future. Although your candidate was (and is) a seriously flawed politician, he stuck to his plan and defied almost every political pundit, winning you back the White House. You now control the Executive and Legislative branches of government (and maybe sometime in the next few years, the Judicial). So, act like you’re in charge. There is no need to keep talking about President Obama and Secretary Clinton. Your incessant ramblings about both of them make you look childish and ill prepared to govern. Moreover, I’m not entirely sure what the Republican Party stands for these days. You may not be either, since you can’t appear to figure out what to do with healthcare, the budget, immigration, foreign policy, the economy, etc. You don’t have Obama around to blame for every ill. It’s now on you. It’s 2017 and the American political landscape belongs entirely to you. Time to step up to the plate and act like a big leaguer.
For the American voter, you need to relax a bit. Have a bourbon, smoke a cigar, go for a run. Whatever you do to unwind, multiply it by 10, because you are one fired up animal. Let’s let our politicians do their jobs. If we don’t like what they do, don’t worry, mid-term elections are only 18 months away and the next presidential cycle will probably kick off shortly thereafter. But for now, stop campaigning. Accept last year’s results and move on. Let 2016 go. It’s one election, and I promise you, we’ve got a lot more to come.
